Digital strategy consultation paper leaves ‘little for us to chew on,’ experts say

The federal government’s consultation document on the digital economy—which as of Friday had received nine individual comments and 11 from organizations--lacks analytical depth and direction, experts say. “I thought at this stage in their thinking, there might have been more details and perhaps more tentative conclusions based on quite a bit of information that has been collected so far,” Sheridan Scott, a partner with Bennett Jones LLP in Ottawa and former head of the Competition Bureau, said in an interview. Industry Minister Tony Clement released a consultation document May 10 toward Canada’s digital economy strategy and launched a website where, until July 9, Canadians can submit their comments. The government is also planning to hold roundtables as part of the consultation, which have not yet been announced. Experts tell The Wire Report the consultation paper covers a wide range of topics, but say the document is too broad and lacks analysis of previously collected information. Most groups were prepared to answer the document’s wide-reaching questions a year ago when the government first announced its intentions to consult on digital strategy, Scott said. “In the section on digital media there is a reference to report commissioned by Canadian Heritage and by the CRTC—quite comprehensive reports—and yet there is no attempt to analyze any of the data gathered to reach some sort of tentative conclusion. We seem to be very much still at the question stage rather than at the answer stage,” Scott said. Scott added that the document’s substance was “surprising” compared to the depth of other countries’ digital strategies. “If you read the documents that have been produced in other countries, the National Broadband Plan in the United States, Digital Britain in the U.K., or the Australian report, these are quite advanced analytically. Conceptually, in both Britain and Australia, they are moving ahead with their legislative plans,” she said. David Ellis, a communications studies professor at York University and author of the blog “Making the Wold Safe for Digital Media,” said Canada’s consultation document missed the mark compared to its American counterpart. “Congress required that include a detailed strategy for achieving broadband affordability to advance what is a long list of goals: consumer welfare, consumer participation, and so on and so forth. Two or three of these are captured in Canada’s document, but most of them are not. We don’t ever hear anything about free speech or civic participation; all we hear about is Canadian content,” he said. “It is astonishing at this stage, having seen Digital Britain and reports in half a dozen other developed countries, that there is so little for us left to chew on.” Ellis also said the document was crafted to please industry, not consumers. Its content, he said, puts too much emphasis on information and communication technologies (ICTs) when it should focus on broadband affordability. “This is a political document, not an analytical document. It has been written to appease business supporters and the folks that make up the so-called cultural community,” he said. “My biggest concern with it, and I do think this is a fatal flaw, is that it does absolutely nothing for consumers. No matter how well this exercise turns out, it will do nothing for consumers.” Following the release of the consultation document, the Liberal party issued a release, saying the government lacked a “clear policy direction.” Liberal industry critic and MP Marc Garneau said the government is “reacting to outside pressure when they’re clearly not ready … Is there actually some meat on the bones or are we starting from scratch now?” Mike Lake, the parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Tony Clement was not available for an interview, but when Clement launched the discussion paper in May, he said he had made the formulation of a national strategy a personal priority. Canada, he said, has to catch up to its international partners, but he cautioned the development of an action plan could take between six and 18 months. The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) and the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) said they support the government’s broad approach. “A broad-based strategy is the right thing to do … They did the right thing in asking a series of open-ended questions rather than trying to prescribe the discussion along certain lines,” Jim Patrick, CWTA vice-president of government affairs, said in an interview. Bernard Courtois, ITAC president and CEO, agreed. “I think it’s got the right balance. If it had the solutions in there you could hardly call it a consultation. It would just be we’ve decided to do A, B and C,” he said. “You are going to have a lot of substantial submissions here, and it’s very important that those submissions appear on a website where people can think and advance .” But not everyone is confident that the consultation process will be a success. Ellis said he is concerned that the government is not doing enough to inform the public about the consultation. “All these discussions that have gone on about ISPs, rights and responsibilities and investment in broadband around the CRTC, all take place amongst a very small closed community of technocrats and lawyers and so on, and none of this gets out to the population at large,” he said. Ellis said many consumers are unaware of the technical aspects of broadband and information infrastructure, making them vulnerable to the interests of industry. He said he hopes the consultation will help generate awareness of digital issues. Ian Morrison, a spokesman for the broadcasting watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said he thinks the government already knows the consultation’s result. “You can read between the lines that they have their own ideas of how they want to proceed. They want to hear from the public more, to confirm things that they intend to do than to genuinely consult. I’m a little skeptical about the motivation for this particular exercise,” he said. “When you compare it with the copyright process —they’re more likely to get comments from the usual suspects with vested interests, the Ottawa followers. It’s a process that’s weighted towards the vested interests. I think the Industry Department has the report of the results of the consultation already up its sleeve.” Still, Morrison said the Friends will put in a submission to the consultation website. Courtois said that while submissions have been slow to come in—as of the morning of June 11 there were four comments from organizations and nine from individuals (most consisting of only a few lines of text)—he is confident that the consultation will pick up during its final days and at the roundtable discussions. “The roundtables can pick up on , but I think the round of submissions will produce a lot of substance and will cover such a broad range. Again, you are reaching out to a lot of people on a lot of subjects. A true digital economy strategy nowadays covers so much ground that I think this is a good way to approach it,” he said. kfournier@thewirereport.ca

Digital strategy consultation paper leaves ‘little for us to chew on,’ experts say

Broadcast | June 11, 2010

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us